Double Happiness
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Movie Reviews of Double Happiness
Movie Review: SANDRA 5 Stars
THIS IS AN INCRDEBILE FEATURE SHOWCASING SANDRA OH'S TALENTS.I ESPECIALLY LIKED IT WHEN SHE WAS ASKED IF SHE COULD DO AN ACCENT.(NOT REALIZING THAT THEY WANTED TO HER TO DO A TRADITIONAL CHINESE ACCENT)MY FAVORITE PART OF THIS FILM IS WHENSHE TELLS HER DATE(DR. MING) TO "STOP THE CAR. NOW GO!!" SONIC YOUTH SONG SUGAR KANE KICKS IN LEAVING CHILLS UP MY SPINE.NOT THE KIND OF MOVIE I WATCH VERY OFTEN,BUT I LOVED
SP
Movie Review: Double Happiness Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Arrived in timely fashion. Was in good shape. Enjoyed the movie and discussion afterward about acculturation, assimilation and family roles.Movie Review: Sandra Oh rocks in this small gem of a film. . .
Summary: 4 Stars
"Double Happiness" is not an earthshattering, groundbreaking film--but damn, it's good. Especially the wonderful Sandra Oh (Christine on "Grey's Anatomy"), who is a delight. She doesn't play a hardnosed, sharp-tongued character here--like she does very well on TV--instead she delivers a warm, appealing performance as a young woman caught between her family's strict values and her longing to break free and enjoy life. Not that she's miserable living at home with Mom and Dad and Sis--they have fun together--but she wants to be an Oscar-winning actress, and her parents don't see this as a proper career. All the actors are outstanding--and there are many great scenes--especially when the song "MacArthur Park" is unexpectedly introduced and also when Sandra discovers the truth about her handsome date. If you like Sandra Oh, you'll enjoy this film.Movie Review: x Oh
Summary: 4 Stars
This film made me a fan of Sandra Oh.
Unlike many of the other reviewers here, I wasn't reminded of "Joy Luck Club," but of another Canadian indie, 1999's "New Waterford Girl," about another beguiling young woman trying to escape the constraints of formal homelife through the arts.
All the actors are pretty good, and most everyone is portrayed with an endearing balance of humor and pathos, though there are several stilted monologues that disrupt the mood, and writer/director Mina Shum has the mom end up like a dum dum. The music is pretty good, too.
Aside from widescreen presentation, the DVD has no special features.
Movie Review: I didn't get two scoops of satisfied...
Summary: 3 Stars
Let me say first that I have never seen an episode of `Grey's Anatomy', but I am a fan of Oh's in the event that everything I've seen her in she's been funny and charming and undeniably talented. Even here, in this lackluster coming-of-age story she is entertaining and certainly attention stealing, but sadly, even Oh's undeniable charm cannot save this movie from the depths of mediocrity.
`Double Happiness' is a sweet if not entirely predictable story about a young Chinese woman named Jade living in America with her family. She is desperately trying to please her hard to please parents while staying true to her own dreams and aspirations. She wants to be an actress and while her parents allow her to entertain the idea momentarily, they are wholly unsupportive and they make this very plain and clear. They want her to marry a nice Chinese boy, and so they make it a point to set her up with someone they think suitable, no mater how incompatible he really is with Jade. Jade on the other hand, has met a nice Caucasian man and has fallen in love with him behind her parents back. She fears pursuing the relationship because of her parent's inevitable reaction, but she knows that in her heart this is the course she needs to take.
Like I said, it's sweet, but it's not anything we haven't seen before.
Sandra Oh is a delight here, and she tries hard to elevate the materiel, but the material winds up holding her back. In fact, there isn't a single bad performance in the bunch, but nothing stands out as great because the script is so bland.
I was stunned by the fact that the film, while only encompassing a mere eighty-seven minutes or so, feels like it's a three hour epic. The film just has no sense of flow to it, in my opinion. It drags its feet, taking much too long to make its point and filling space with uninteresting and mind-numbing sequences of events. I expected a brisker walk, but this felt like a one-hundred-mile dash.
In the end I have to say that I was not satisfied as I thought I would be with `Double Happiness' and have to give it a final grade of a low C. I see that I am in the minority, for a lot of people appear to really enjoy this film. I can see why, if they are fans of Sandra Oh, for she is charming, and some of the dialog is truthful and earnest. I just feel that in the end the big picture is lost in translation, and the film ultimately fails to be anything special or noteworthy at all. It promises the viewer an extra helping of happiness, but it winds up leaving us with less than a single serving.